Tips on Keeping Your Home Clean and Tidy
Running a household is not the easiest thing in the world. Cleaning and tidying seem to be things you are dog all the time but somehow never complete. If you have a child with autism, your stress over keeping the house clean can be magnified. Clutter and mess can affect these children greatly. In fact, things out of place can cause a meltdown, and too many items in the home can cause sensory overload, making it difficult to keep your child with autism calm. The good news is that you can do a lot to help keep your child calm and yourself sane. Let’s have a look at a few ways how.
Declutter
If your home has a lot of clutter, you are going to find it difficult to keep your home clean and tidy. Clutter makes it difficult to get rid of all the dust, mold, and other nasties, and these can infect the air and even cause your children to develop issues such as asthma. As you are going to want to avoid this, you need to declutter your living spaces.
Be as ruthless as you can. In fact, it may be a good idea to adopt a minimalist approach. This does not mean getting rid of everything; it means purging all the old and useless things that have no purpose in your life now. Once you have gotten rid of everything and everything you can, you will have a lot more space to play with.
Repair Things
It is important that you stay on top of repairs. Water leaks, for example, can cause a lot of problems, from destroying brickwork and woodwork and even causing structural issues. An unsafe home is not good for anything, let alone an autistic child who may need to be moved out while large repairs are undertaken if small problems aren’t resolved as soon as they should be.
Things to take notice of are small cracks and holes in the mortar or woodwork, etc. Roaches can enter your home through the tiniest of cracks, as can other parasites and rodents. These animals are a health hazard and can cause untold damage to your home – especially if the bug is a termite.
Your Kitchen
It is wise to clean down your kitchen after you have used it. If you have a dishwasher, this makes the process a lot simpler. You can simply load up the device as you go. Try and clean up as you cook, and do the washing up while the food is in the oven, for example, then wipe down the sides. Try not to let things pile up as this can cause sensory issues, especially with autistic children.
Vacuum While the Kids are Away
Get the vacuum cleaner out while the kids are at school. Lots of little feet in the way make the task more difficult. Autistic children generally have issues with sound, so it is not a good idea to try this when they are home. Do it when you are alone and get the job done correctly.